Typically, industry standard electrosurgical generators can be utilized with stand-alone monopolar and stand-alone bipolar electrosurgical devices. However, it is often desired that a surgeon have the capability of switching between monopolar and bipolar devices during surgical procedures. Such switching may cause delays which result in additional challenges during surgical procedures. The development of combination monopolar/bipolar electrosurgical instruments has allowed for simplified switching between monopolar and bipolar functionality during surgical procedures. However, such combination devices generally require a dedicated outlet (e.g., port) in the electrosurgical generator and as such, cannot be utilized with industry standard generators. Thus, the use of such combination devices typically requires a generator having a dedicated output port for dual functionality.
Some examples of such combination devices and associated connectors may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,463,759; 6,113,596; 6,652,514; 7,232,440; 7,722,607, and U.S. Publication Nos. 2011/0054462; and 2011/0178515, all of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. It would be desirable to have an electrosurgical device connector system which would allow for the use of combination monopolar/bipolar devices with industry standard electrosurgical generators. It would be further beneficial to have combination monopolar/bipolar electrosurgical devices that can be used without a dedicated outlet in an electrosurgical generator.